Cooking seems all the harder in the summer when the world heats up around you (if you live in a northern climate as I do. If you live in the South, it’s always hot, so this post is for you year-round). So rather than do a lot of summer cooking, how about a night or two of cold salads, with some edamame pasta thrown in as the cooked center of your plate?

Some fun, and easy-to-make summer salads. And some edamame pasta.

I recently put this assortment together. These actually were all left-over from a gathering we had at our house to start work on our new play, Boys in the Basement, which you can read about on my theater site. Please do, and please contribute to make the play possible and then come to see us perform in November.

The salads are a cucumber salad, made simply with sliced cucumbers, vinegar and dill, and a tomato and fat-free feta salad made with olive oil. The edamame pasta also has been coated with olive oil and we addd some low-fat Parmesan cheese as well. And there’s some watermelon slices for dessert.

These are all simple and fast to make, try them for a summer treat that doesn’t require turning on the oven.John